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Housing starts in one province have increased by 83 per cent year-over-year, according to new figures.

In Ontario, the seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of urban starts were 4,485 in March 2015, a significant increase on the 2,456 urban starts in March 2014.

Across the country, the SAAR of urban starts also increased in British Columbia (23 per cent), the Prairies (28 per cent), Alberta (33 per cent) and Manitoba (four per cent), but down in all the Atlantic Provinces and in Quebec.

When comparing March to the previous month, total urban starts increase by 28.1 per cent in March to 177,459 units.

Multiple urban starts increased by 48.2 per cent to 125,263 units in March, while the single-detached urban starts segment decreased by 3.4 per cent to 52,196 units.

CMHC’s trend measure, which is a moving average of the monthly SAAR housing starts, showed that housing starts remained steady across Canada, with 179,016 units in March, compared to 180,236 in February.

“Despite recent month-to-month changes in the [seasonally adjusted annual rates], the trend in housing starts essentially held steady in March compared to February,” said Bob Dugan, chief economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre.

“However, the trend in housing construction has moved lower since September 2014, partly reflecting efforts to manage the level of completed but unsold units.”

While CMHC doesn't look at the value of this construction, new figures from Stats Can, released yesterday, showed that housing starts for multi-unit properties rose 20.7 per cent to $1.8 billion during February 2014, while construction intentions for single-family homes fell 9.6 per cent to $2.3 billion.

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